Money? Just use some copper pipe. Or copper wire. Or at least aluminum. You do not want a glowing piece of metal. I guess very thick piece of metal would do. In order to make sure no pesky neighbor sees you being cheap hide your copper in original enclosure.
I remember pennies used to replace a frequently blown fuse in boxes when I was young too. Never occurred to me until I was older than some Einstein had to push that in with his finger at some point. Probably a wet finger too.
I remember watching a senior tech working on a power supply, he shorted the fuse holder with a piece of 12g wire and found the fault by looking for smoke. Then he tagged it non repairable as the cct board had lit up in flames.